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Title : The Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica: A Guide to Inexpensive Living in a Peaceful Tropical Paradise
Author : Cristobal Howard
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Great, Great Book!
My husband and I found this book to be a godsend. It helped make our move to Costa Rica a lot easier and answered a lot of questions we had. We saved time and money by reading it. Even after living in Costa we refer to it occasionally. It was highly recommended to us by the Costa Rican Residents Association.

Title : Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich: How to Get Rich Quickly and Stay Rich Forever! (Rich Dad)
Author : Robert T. Kiyosaki
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : More great ideas, more great context - huge value for money
This fourth book in the main series follows through the logical progression from 'taking care of your business' to retiring and doing what you want to do full time. Some people in the UK may find Robert Kiyosaki's American enthusiasm and repetitive writing style a bit hard to take - just stick with it and realise that making money is something that Americans do better then us! Others may say that you 'can't do those things here' - may I suggest to them that they need new advisors as I have not had any problems in implementing these ideas. I would read 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' and 'Cashflow Quadrant' before this book - could be a bit much at once otherwise.
The big gain from this, as with all the books, is the sense of challenge and attitude that comes across. Combined with the specific ideas for action and areas to think about Robert is able to lead you towards acheiving your financial goals, whatever they are.
Retiring before 45 is a dream that most us share, but few think is possible. I would rate these four books as being of equal value in helping me to be on track to reach this goal (despite having started at 31 years old), as my MBA. The MBA tells me how, Rich Dad helps me think of why, when and what.
The true value of these books is really demonstrated by their life expectancy on my book shelf at home. I have leant a number of copies of Rich Dad Poor Dad to friends and family, none of which have ever been returned! Since then my sister is now starting her own company and writing a book and friends have made some very profitable moves into property investment. None of these people, including myself, talked about such things before reading Robert's books.
Buy this book. Read it. then hide it and re-read it every few months - if you don't you will probably find that it disappears and those close to you start to have more money in their pockets!
A real delight.

Title : You'RE Fifty--Now What?: Investing for the Second Half of Your Life
Author : Charles R. Schwab
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : The Best Book on Financial Planning for the Over 46 Age Set
My biggest complaint about most books on financial planning is that they try to cover everyone with one approach. Mr. Schwab's book is a pleasant exception to this rule. By at least focusing on those of around middle years (46 through 56), he can be more specific and make the information more relevant to each reader. Naturally, I would like to see future books be even more focused than this one, but Mr. Schwab has certainly moved in the right direction.
I found this book to be vastly superior to 52 Weeks to Financial Fitness by Marshall Loeb, which was also written for people in this age category.
Mr. Schwab's profits as author from this book are all being donated to the Charles Schwab Corporation Foundation to provide for the needs of seniors.
The book is divided into two parts: First, planning for the rest of your life; and second, getting organized to implement that plan.
The planning section is very well done because it covers materials at a level of perspective that goes from the needs of most beginners to handling the needs of all but the most sophisticated people. Fundamentals are covered in sidebars so as not to clutter-up the main text for those who do not need the information. The subjects covered include how much money you will need in total, determining the value of what you have available, estimating the gap between your needs and resources, understanding how to think about asset allocation in your investment funds, establishing the proper cash flow to match your needs, and readjusting your investment mix over time.
Each section is clearly written and provides formats to make it easier for you to assemble and think about your information. I was particularly pleased to see Mr. Schwab challenge some conventional wisdom about financial planning. Many people use a rule of thumb that you will need 70% of your preretirement income. In practice, many people find that they spend more than that because some costs go up more rapidly than inflation, like medical care, or they take on new interests. Mr. Schwab suggests 90%. I think even that may not be conservative enough. I think a better assumption is to have the percentage grow over time, slowly. Eventually, it will probably exceed 100%.
In addition, many people will tell you to plan on spending 6% of your assets each year after you have to start drawing on them. Mr. Schwab wisely suggests that 3-4% will be more appropriate for most people. I liked that advice very much.
The advice on investing is much more conservative than you would expect from someone who heads an on-line brokerage house. But appropriately so. He suggests you stay in common stocks as long as possible, because you may well live much longer than you think. But he has all but 10% of your portfolio in either no-load index funds or conservative bond and cash positions. If you skip the idea of owning any individual stocks, the advice is quite appropriate for the average person. It also has you reducing your exposure to stocks over time, as the years appraoch when you will need the income. So even if stocks stop performing well (as some warn) in the next few years, you will be relatively safe.
Part II of the book gets you into deciding whether you need a financial advisor or not, and how to select and work with one. It also looks at the most important questions about insurance, estate planning (get thee to a lawyer), and how to handle your donations so they bring you the most satisfaction and least after-tax cost.
The book has several other nice qualities. It emphasizes the rest of your life as being the "second half" rather than the downhill slide or some other negative concept. In sports, we all know that the winners are usually those who play the second half the best. Also, at half-time, the coach often makes adjustments that lead to winning performance. It is a very nice metaphor for financial planning at this stage in life. "What do I want for the second half of my life?" is the key question posed in the beginning of the book for you to consider.
I also liked the optimism of the book. Rather than focusing on the fear that people have about outliving their money, the book emphasizes the potential for good things to happen. You may live longer, and think of all the good things that could follow. "Anything is possible" was my favorite line from the book, which followed examples of wonderful accomplishments by seniors of advanced years.
Unless you already have been through this exercise recently with a financial advisor, I suggest that you get the book and use the exercises.
Further, I suggest you take even more time to think through the possibilities that the post child-rearing and tuition years may offer you. It's almost like getting to start over again, but with much more in the way of resources and wisdom.
Look for and find the best choices!

Title : "Which?" Guide to Pensions: How to Maximise Your Retirement Income ("Which?" Consumer Guides)
Author : Jonquil Lowe
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A good, all-round, general introduction.
You can't normally go wrong with a Which? guide and this one is no exception. I have recently set up my own business and needed to learn all about company pension schemes and legislation.
This guide was an excellent starting point, covering all the major options available to me and clearing up a lot of the jargon. It even contains sections on maximising the performance of your pension.
This is the 1999 edition, but still contains reasonably current advice on Stakeholder pension plans. Considering the often tiresome nature of the subject matter, this is all highly informative stuff.

Title : All About the New Ira: How to Cash in on the New Tax Law Changes
Author : Steve Merritt
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A good and clearly written book on the different IRAs
This is a wonderful book the that clearly explains the different available retirement plans. While the descriptions seemed detailed, I would like to see a later volume that explains any changes in the new Roth legislation. A great book for those struggling with options.
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Latest developments | Age Concern EnglandThird sector strategy for Communities and Local Government. Full response ref 3107. ... Pension benefit advice - retirement and pension benefits and advice ...
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Your Retirement Benefitsor other local government which has agreed to. participate in the System. ... Unreduced retirement benefit at age 65 with. five years of credit, or at age 60 ...
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25-NOV-02 | Councillors to Retire at 70 ProposalPrice: $4.95 | The government has recommended that the retirement age for executive councillors participating in the local government pension scheme (LGPS) should be...
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AMICUS - University of BathNormal retirement age in the Local Government Pension Scheme is 65. However, ... retirement age in the NHS Scheme is 60, with lower retirement ages applying ...
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Local MP calls on government to end age of discriminationThe Government has said that it wants to encourage flexible retirement policies ... will force the Government to end this age discrimination by 2006 - but ...
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Compulsory retirement age setback (From Campaign Series)Government lawyers insisted the exception was a matter for national ... This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. Newsquest site network ...
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National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Fraternal Order of ...normal retirement age, but instead should defer to the applicable state or local laws, ... State and local government retirement systems are established ...
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